Overcoming Obstacles
by Catallena
Summary: A one shot based on "I'll Be Seeing You." Carley and Kyle reflect on their love and the hardships both endured, both when Kyle was blind and Carley's coming to terms with her disfigured left side of her face.


**Overcoming Obstacles (a fanfiction) **

**SYNOPSIS**: This is a one shot fanfiction based on Lurlene McDaniel's novel "I'll Be Seeing You." After the banner-in- the-sky surprise on Valentine's Day, Carley Mattea is happily dating her hospital neighbor, Kyle Westin. Carley is still self conscious about her disfigured left side of her face, but Kyle's comforting, loving words relaxes her. They reflect on their time together, and the hardships they both wish to overcome.

**Genre:** Romance/General

**Rated**: K

Carley Mattea lay on the smooth green hill next to Oak Ridge High School, in the arms of her handsome boyfriend, Kyle Westin. The sun was shining brightly in the icing-blue Reston, Virginia sky. Kyle adjusted his position, so that Carley's head was resting in the crook of his neck.

"I wish you could see the scenery right now," Carley murmured, "everything looks so fresh and beautiful." She ran her fingers gently over Kyle's dark glasses. A few months ago, Kyle suffered an accident that left him blind for some time. He'd befriended Carley in the hospital, the night he was admitted. They'd talked, she'd cracked a few jokes, he'd laughed. And now…now they were practically inseparable.

Kyle bent his head and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"I'm not completely blind now, Carley," he told her; "I can see…maybe not well, but at least I'm not in complete darkness. I don't need to 'see' with my hands as much. You know?"

Carley nodded. She did know, and she sometimes still felt a wave of guilt over how she had treated him in the past.

You see, Carley was…different. When she was twelve, she underwent a surgery to remove a malignant tumor that had spread to her brain. The operation had destroyed some bone and tissue on the left side of her face, leaving her disfigured. When Kyle was first admitted into the hospital, he couldn't see anything, much to Carley's relief. She didn't want him to see how she looked, especially since he was the first boy ever to like her.

For months, Carley avoided telling Kyle the truth, and has even enlisted the help of her eighteen year old sister, Janelle, to pose as her in front of Kyle's friends. But then the truth came out and they hadn't spoken until Valentine's Day a few months earlier.

"Yes," she replied, for emphasis, "I do."

"Are you okay?" Kyle asked her, "you sound sad to me." He curled his arm around Carley's head and stroked her hair.

Carley sighed.

"I just...feel so bad that I have my full sight, and you don't. I want you to see the world with me, Kyle. At the same time, if you do get your full sight back and took a closer look at me-"

"-don't even begin on that, Carley," Kyle interrupted, "I told you on that day I came by your family's book store, that it was your sense of humor and your wisdom that attracted me to you. While in the beginning I was shocked to see your face for the first time, I've grown fond of you, and want you to know that."

Tears started to burn Carley's eyelids and she sniffed.

"I'm hideous, Kyle," she replied thinly, "I'm a freak."

"**YOU ARE NOT A FREAK!**" Even with the dark glasses over his eyes, Carley could sense the anger flaring in the irises. "I don't want you to ever talk bad about yourself. Do you hear me, Carley? Do you understand?" He sounded so firm that it frightened Carley.

"Kyle…" she began.

"Do you?"

"Kyle, I—yes, I understand," she replied.

She saw his face relax into a smile.

"Good. Because you know what? Beauty is something that can't be measured and depends on a lot of other aspects besides the physical," he told her, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

"You remind me so much of Reba."

"Well, she's right, you know." Kyle smiled that handsome smile that caused Carley's heart to flip in her chest. "I love you, Carley. I think maybe God put me in that hospital for so long after my accident for a reason- I was meant to meet you."

Carley swallowed back a sob.

"I love you too, Kyle," she whispered in his ear, "and I promise that after my three sessions of reconstructive surgery, I'll be the normal girlfriend you deserve."

"Normalcy should be placed in the same category as beauty- in the eye of the beholder. We have such a twisted conception of 'normal.' 'Normal' to us is being healthy, go to go to school, get a job, live life. If I had gone completely blind, but was still able to do all those things, I don't see how it differs that much from someone who wasn't blind," Kyle replied. He swiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "I guess what I'm saying is, Carley, that you could still have your face the way it is and it wouldn't bother me because I've fallen so deeply in love with you."

Carley giggled.

"How philosophical of you," she teased.

"Always cracking jokes, huh?" he teased back.

"It's my specialty."

Kyle laughed out loud and brought Carley closer to him.

"I love you, Carley. Even though life might hit us again with hardships, I want us to go through them together. Will you go with me?" he asked.

"I want nothing more than to spend forever in your arms, Kyle," came her response.

That was enough.

Sighing contentedly, Carley and Kyle let themselves dream- a dream full of hope, life, and love. And whatever obstacles that came their way, they would face them together, until the end of time.

-END-

**A/N: **So sorry for the cheesy ending xD I recently read "I'll Be Seeing You" and absolutely loved it. This was written in roughly half an hour to 40 minutes (hence the horrible ending xD). I've been reading Lurlene McDaniel's books since I was in 8th grade, and have never ceased to love each one I've read.


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